DOI: 10.1051/jp2:1994159
J. Phys. II France 4 (1994) 805-817
Fluctuation-induced forces in stacked fluid membranes
K. M. Palmer1, M. Goulian1 and P. Pincus1, 21 Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530, U.S.A.
2 Department of Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530, U.S.A.
(Received 3 November 1993, accepted in final form 7 February 1994)
Abstract
We present a new entropic interaction between foreign inclusions (e.g. proteins) confined to fluid membranes in a layered
phase. This interaction arises from the coupling of thermal shape fluctuations to the variation in rigidity associated with
the presence of inclusions. The force between inclusions exhibits interesting nonmonotonic behaviour as a function of the
separation distance. At large separation, we find a weak power law attraction between inclusions of similar composition.
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